1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, such as a camera or the like, capable of confirming ID (identification) information of a film cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, attempts to provide a magnetic layer on a photographing film or on the outside of a film cartridge containing a rolled photographing film have been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application (Kokai) No. 5-45755 (1993)). Most of commercially available products using a standard film 24 mm wide for realizing such attempts are accommodated in respective film cartridges in a state in which the film cannot be seen from the outside whether the film is undeveloped or developed. Hence, it is impossible to know the contents of an exposed film accommodated in a film cartridge.
In film cartridges accommodating respective commercially available standard films 24 mm wide, in order to individually identify a film cartridge and a film, a bar code representing an ID number is exposed on the film during the production of the film so that ID information appears on the film after being developed, or the ID number is marked in the form of a bar code or a numeral on the outside of the film cartridge.
However, in order to cause an apparatus to recognize the ID information marked on the outside of the film cartridge, it is necessary to read the ID information using an ID reading apparatus, or the user must input the ID information to the apparatus while reading the ID information.
A proposal for performing a series of reading operations corresponding to the ID information has been provided in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application (Kokai) No. 7-219201 (1995). However, as described in embodiments disclosed in this application, the ID bar code on the film can be dealt with only in the case of a developed film. In order to read the ID bar code or the ID number marked on the outside of the film cartridge, it is necessary to provide a dedicated ID reading device in the camera or the apparatus which uses the film cartridge, or the user himself must read the ID information marked on the outside of the film cartridge and input the read ID information using an input apparatus. Such an apparatus will be complicated, expensive and large, and will require a troublesome operation. In addition, the user cannot provide a classified ID number. Since the ID number can be seen on the outside of the film cartridge, anybody can use the film cartridge and read specific stored information.
As described above, identification of a film using ID information allocated during the production of the film has many problems, and it can be said that such ID information cannot be used as a personal identification number.